Magdalena Chumchalová

Mgr.A. Magdalena Chumchalová, Ph.D. (b. 1974) studied book illustration and graphics under Prof. Jiří Šalamoun at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague; her studies also included training under Assoc. Prof. Pavel Štecha (photography) and Prof. Jan Solpera (type design and typography). She was twice awarded a semester scholarship by the Italian Embassy in Prague, to study art in Siena, Rome and Padua. She was a participant at the Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg and a symposium on lithography in Großpösna, near Leipzig. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design by focusing on scientific illustration, a subject in which she continues to take a practical and theoretical interest. She has illustrated dozens of articles for the science magazine Živa, and she is the author of three series on the history of scientific illustration (botanical, anatomical and entomological), for which in 2004 she received a Special Award for the Popularization of Biological Sciences. For many years she has pursued an interest in documentary and fine art photography and the professional computer processing of this. Her work has appeared at exhibitions at home and abroad.

Magdalena Chumchalová has been a teacher at the KNIH secondary school in Brno for over ten years. She has illustrated art publications for various publishing houses, including Academia (Příroda ČR: průvodce faunou), Vutium (Střecha nad hlavou: kořeny nejstarší architektury a bydlení) and Petrov (Radek Malý: Větrní, winner of a 2006 Magnesia Litera award). She combines her work as an artist with interests in the natural sciences and psychology. On the basis of qualifications gained at the Faculty of Education in Brno, she is active in art therapy and imagination education. She also produces work for her own amusement and takes care of her three children.